1000pts BFG SM Crusade Fleet

[Captain Slow]

Okay, First off, ive finished reading the BFG rules both advanced and scenarios, and just to make sure ive got them set in stone inside my own head, im borrowing a copy of Davidus's BFG rule book when i see him next. anyway, without futher Adue. here is my Themed Space Marine Crusade Fleet:

Master Of The Fleet aboard Space Marine Strike Crusier 'Rhetoricus'
With one Re-roll :75pts

Strike Cruiser 'Angels Wrath' : 145pts
Angel Encarmaine Chapter

Strike Cruiser 'casus' : 145pts
salamanders Chapter

Strike Cruiser 'Rhetoricus' : 145pts
Imperial Fists Chapter

strike Cruiser 'Auels Bane' : 145pts
Red Scorpions Chapter

Thearon SQRN : 140pts
Angel Encarmine Chapter
X2 Gladius Class
X1 Nova Class

Dealiphi Wing : 100pts
Imperial Fists Chapter
X2 Nova Class

Dominix SQDRN : 140pts
Red Scorpions Chapter
X2 Gladius Class
X1 Nova Class

total Points: 995pts

Theme: this is a small rapid strike force of Space Marine Chapters During an imperial Crusade (not specified)
Space Marine Chapters: general Armies that have just been started by my friends at my Local GW, Except for the Red Scorpions, i just think there a cool Sm chapter.

Stratagy:
Drive a 2 strike cruisers backed up the the Nova sqrn up one of my opponents flank, and force them to split there forces up, the way i see it. they eitehr ingnore me, and have 2 strike crusiers and two lance wielding Novas tear into thier flank or they can adress them and try to take them out.
as for the type of games this list is going to play...mainly Planetry assualt
as this list is going to be part of a linked game. play a game of BFG which has knock on effects on the 40K game that is played afterwards.

well thats it, feel free to pick any holes in this fleet, im VERY new to BFG and welcome constructive critisim, in fact i welcome it.
also id like a hand upgradeing the list so it could play 1500pts and 2000pts games, but use this list as the base.

[Warmaster Romulas]

that is a very solid 1000pt marine list
4 strike cruisers and 3 sqds of escorts
but in BFG you want to try not to split up your cruisers
"strength in numbers"
"safety in numbers"
most table admirals want you to split your forces
this is what i tell new gothic players
if you split your forces i wont split mine
ill maintain my formation and drive(my front armor being 6+) it right at one of your splits
when your other formation catches up i will have been engaged with the first one (with my entire force)for several turns
crippling and possibly destroying them
its ok to split them but keep them close no more that 40-50 cm away
you will have a lot of flexibility like this
crossing the T is much easier this way

[Captain Slow]

thanks for the hints Romulas
as for the splitting the fleet idea. i know its shakey, but ill take your advice and keep my stuff togther, but from what id heard theres a tactic to drive a group of Strike crusiers round the flank of the opponent, while haveing a Battlebarge and a few escorts, strike crusiers holding them up. but then again, this list lacks a large ammount of strike crusiers and a battle barge, so ill stick with it.

as for the actuall modeling side of this fleet, im going to run it in tandom with my New Imperial Fists army. thast if i can get this list ironed out.
but i have to ask, any suggestions for bigger games? around the 1500pts 2000pts marks.

[Warmaster Romulas]

with abigger fleet you can run those strike cruisers the big cannon on the barge will keep the attention of the main fleet so that is true for a bigger engagement
as for expanding
i would say keep your ratio of about 4 cruiser for every battle barge
up till the max
and then lots of escorts
my fleet i decent sized
i have
1 battlebarge
2 battle ships
1 grand cruiser
2 battle cruisers
8 cruisers
4 light cruisers
6 falchion escorts
12 sword frigate
6 firestorm frigates
12 cobra destroyers
several transports and q ships
i have pics from before the "camera incident"
but i dont know how to shrink them to post them

[Captain Slow]

cool, cool, i might consider drawing up a larger list for use at a later date then, and ill try and keep that ratio.
as for the pics, you can use Imageshack, just before you click the button 'Host Image' theres a drop down menu for you to choose if you want to resize the image or not. simply tick the box to the left of the drop down menu and then click the size you want the image sized down to. jobs done. hope that helps.

[Warmaster Romulas]

whats imageshack

[Torquemada Coteaz]

Escorts are dead useful.
That quote in the rulebook about the swarm of whatchamahoozits is absolutely right.
Plus they make nice meat shields or just to force target priority and such (and are much more expendible than cap ships)

And, generally, I dont't like to keep too many battleships around.
Mostly I use them for the fact that they are 1-hit rockers, and for the Imperials they shoot up to twice as much as cruisers.
However, a BS costs about 2 cruisers, which combined have more guns (as long as you are in range) and more health than the BS's

Edit: ImageShack is a free image hosting website, and I know many people use it.
Though, having jut realized that one of the images in my sig, which was ImageShack, had crapped out for some reason, I don't entirely recommend it

[Warmaster Romulas]

that is why i have the battle cruisers
and thegrandcruiser
the battleships are there but they dont get to see much action
i usually only field the emperor for the launch bays

[Torquemada Coteaz]

The fact that it's called the Emperor is more than enough reason for me to field it =P

[Captain Slow]

okat firsts things first Romulas: Image shack is an image hosting site. however its not like photobucket in the fact that it does not store your images. just hosts them. just google imageshack, should take you to there homepage.

Torquemada
for fluff reasons, i dont plan to have many battlebarges at all in this list. as a matter of fact ive just drawn up a simple expansion for this list at 1500pts, consisting of a battle barge and two hunter Class frigs. but i might revise that, i can see where your comeing from when you say more is better, but at the ame time i can see the appeal of the Battlebarge, that and one of the guys im going to be playing on a regular basis loves his nova cannons, and has more Lunar classes than you can shake a stick at. so numbers for me wont nessaccrily be better. guess ill have to try it and see how it goes.
and one last thing, since this is a themed list
Battle Barge 'Herodotus' : 425pts
Red Scorpions Chapter

Add on for Dealpihi wing: 80 points
X2 Hunter Class Frigs

[Torquemada Coteaz]

Haha your opponent sounds like me, or possibly Steel.
He loves his NC's more than me =P

Though, with the new "scatter and no guess range" rules changes for the NC's, I may not decide to field many of them any more.

I would usually tell people to get more Battlebarges (but not TOO many) just for the much much awesomeness that are the Bombardment Cannons, but really you can just get some more cruisers for that.

[Captain Slow]

well, in 200opts games im thinking anoutehr two strike crusiers, and some more Gladius or preferably Nova Class Escorts. but has anyone seen the Black templars fleet list? i was wondering if its acceptable to pull the assualt strike crusier from that list and just use it in this fleet. and as far as the theme goes i would make it Black templars.
any thoughts?

[Torquemada Coteaz]

As long as your opponent agrees to it I don't particularly see a problem.
Especially considering fluff-wise your fleet is already a meat grinder excrement blend of marine chapters already.

[Captain Slow]

cool, cool, im sure they'll be fine as the lsit is fairly balanced overall.
and fluff wise thats why i picked it really. other than the Red scorpions this fleet is going to be made of marine chapters from my local GW people i happen to know and play regualry. and people who most of the time kcik my ass in 1500pts of 40K ><

so for a 2000pts expasion im thinking
+2 RE-rolls (makeing a total of 3)
a assualt strike crusier (using the BT rules in thier fleet listing)
anouther Normal strike cruiser
and one more SQDRN consisting of 2 Gladius Class frigs and one Nova Class Frig

[Torquemada Coteaz]

sounds good =P
I'm a big fan of rerolls btw. I tend to take 3 in smaller games anyway haha...

[Warmaster Romulas]

looks good
i think you should reconsider the battle barge though
the raw power of their main weapon can really free up the cruisers to do some real damage

[Captain Slow]

i ahev to say the battle barge is very attractive, but for the fact taht im maninly going to be playing damnned nova cannons and Lance heavy Lists....i can see the PRO's for the battle barge, but at the same time becuase who im going to be playing on a Regular basis, i can see the cons

[Torquemada Coteaz]

Actually, seeing as you are splitting your forces a bit, nova cannons houldn't give you much trouble (especially now that they scatter so bloody much.)
Lances may give you trouble yes.
Of course, that's why you use a few escorts or even cruisers as meat shields and target priorities while the BB pounds the hell out of whatever's in front of it.

[Captain Slow]

true true. haveing 2 battle barges in the fleet would give it some seriosu stopping power, but i like the fact that the SM fleet list is very manouverable. so, ill think about it.
tho, they are £18 a go, and thats damn expensive for what your getting at the end of the day...despite how cool they are.

[Warmaster Romulas]

ebay my friend i got my BB for $ 16 usd shipped
so that would be 8 GBP
you might not find it that cheap but definately cheaper than 16GBP
you will have to be patient
but you can build a massive fleet for cheap

[Torquemada Coteaz]

Aye, ebay's great.
If yer trust 'em and have a keen eye.

And over here it's 45$cdn...
(equivalent of about 20 british pounds, tax not included. BTW our tax is 13%)
So no crying about it ;P

[Captain Slow]

True, True, ebay can save people serious amounts of money, the only problem is, that getting anything Specialist thru ebay is very hard, because theres not alot of choice avalabe. in other words, the people who have BFG dont want to sell it >< so i cant buy it. T_T

[Torquemada Coteaz]

Try searching world wide.
AND try bartertown.